Marsha Kahm

Is art’s role to provoke or placate? What happens when it no longer reflects current societal views? These questions and many more were the subject of hot debate when Victor Arnautoff’s thirteen-panel mural “The Life of Washington” became an object of local controversy, then a media firestorm. On display since San Francisco’s George Washington High School opened in 1936, it offers a view of the Founding Father both celebratory and critical, referencing his involvements in slavery and Native American genocide. (The Iroquois dubbed him “Town Destroyer.”) But some present-day students, parents, and observers found those depictions racially offensive, calling for the work to be removed or destroyed. Would doing so be a “redaction of history,” “identity politics gone off the rails”—or a justified blow to a lingering American “colonized mentality” as well as ongoing “traumatization” of young minds?

The once free-spirited city of San Francisco is now a 'Company Town,' a playground for tech moguls of the 'sharing economy' and social media. Billionaire venture capitalists virtually control the city's government. Skyrocketing rents and evictions have driven out ethic and middle class communities. But a grassroots backlash threatens the power of tech. The feature-length documentary, 'Company Town,' is the story of an intense election campaign that will determine the fate of the city at the epicenter of the digital revolution. The whole world is watching as similar revolts against Uber, Airbnb, and other multi-billion dollar companies erupt around the world.

Feelings Are Facts: The Life of Yvonne Rainer chronicles the defiant, uncompromising, and highly influential ideas of postmodern choreographer and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer. Over the course of her career, she revolutionized modern dance, generated what later became known as performance art, and changed the basic tenets of experimental filmmaking - all during a time when women were largely ignored in the art world. Today she continues to push forward, creating vibrant, courageous, unpredictable work, inspiring a new generation of artists to question, overthrow, and generate possibilities of their own. Feelings Are Facts: The Life of Yvonne Rainer is the story of this remarkable artist and the equally remarkable times that shaped her creative practice.

Harris Glenn Milstead, aka Divine (1945-1988) was the ultimate outsider turned underground hero. Spitting in the face of the status quos of body image, gender identity, sexuality, and preconceived notions of beauty, Divine succeeded in becoming an internationally recognized icon, recording artist, and character actor of stage and screen. Glenn went from the often-mocked, schoolyard fat kid to underdog royalty, standing up for millions of gay men and women, drag queens and punk rockers, and countless other socially ostracized misfits and freaks. With a completely committed in-your-face style, he blurred the line between performer and personality, and revolutionized pop culture.

A reflective look at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco and how individuals rose to the occasion during the first years of the crisis.

'Between Two Worlds' is a personal exploration of the community and family divisions that are redefining American Jewish identity and politics. The filmmakers own families are battlegrounds over loyalty to Israel, interpretations of the Holocaust, intermarriage and a conversion to Islam, and a secret communist past. Filmed in the United States and Israel, this first person documentary begins with a near riot at a Jewish Film Festival in San Francisco, shows an agonizing battle over divestment from Israel on a university campus, and reveals how hard it is for minorities in America to maintain ethnic identity in the face of generational change. Who speaks for a divided community at the crossroads? 'Between Two Worlds' has the exhilarating energy and fierce commitment of Jewish conversation itself.

Jacqui and Roma.Adopted reveals the grit rather than the glamor of transracial adoption. First-time director Barb Lee goes deep into the intimate lives of two well-meaning families and shows us the subtle challenges they face. One family is just beginning the process of adopting a baby from China and is filled with hope and possibility. The other family’s adopted Korean daughter is now 32 years old. Prompted by her adoptive mother’s terminal illness, she tries to create the bond they never had. The results are riveting, unpredictable and telling. While the two families are at opposite ends of the journey, their stories converge to show us that love isn’t always enough.

Rene di Rosa is smitten by art. Rene is unusual because his goal is neither about interior decorating nor increasing his social status, but about the pure joy of discovery. He has the world's largest (over 2,000) and most notable collection of Northern California art; at times colorful, figurative, humorous, rebellious, political, and radical. "It is my greatest pleasure. Without it, I can't function." -- Rene di Rosa

The control over public water supply is significant policy issue around the world. Documentarians Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman take a close look at the global business trend of privatizing water supplies.

Harry Hay was one of the founding fathers of the gay rights movement, and for more than 50 years was synonymous with the term "gay pride." Director Eric Slade's documentary about Hay looks at both his life and the movement he did so much to define. In 1948, Hay founded the Mattachine Society in Los Angeles; the goal of the organization was to establish a "Golden Brotherhood," one that sought to redefine homosexuality as a normal, healthy way of life. The problem, Hay famously maintained, was not homosexuality itself, but the way it was treated by society. Dramatizations, photographs, archival footage, and interviews with original Mattachine Society members are all incorporated to tell Hay's remarkable story, one whose legacy continues to be felt in the treatment of gays and lesbians in culture today.

Documentary about the gender-bending San Francisco performance group who became a pop culture phenomenon in the early 1970s.

Allie and Dion are in love, but sex issues threaten their new relationship. They visit a San Francisco sex club where they see a lust-filled lesbian orgy, including a delightfully playful demonstration by the Safe Sex Sluts and other downright kinky lesbian sex. Raw lust and passion with a heart, Safe is Desire is beautifully shot, scripted and performed.

In this film, made two weeks prior to his death from AIDS, San Francisco performer Rodney Price sings and tap dances a darkly humorous song about his own death, "I've Got Less Time Than You." It is a heartening and powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

During a local fishing contest, people are being mysteriously dragged into the lake and killed by a giant fish hook. After a sufficient number of deaths, the killer is finally revealed.

During a local fishing contest, people are being mysteriously dragged into the lake and killed by a giant fish hook. After a sufficient number of deaths, the killer is finally revealed.